


Always Moving, Never Stopping

by Meatball42



Series: Rare Pairs [93]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Missing Scene, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Post-Iron Man 2, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 01:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19780756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: “How does dating anyone work? Test to destruction.”Natasha laughed while Bruce looked alarmed.“Good faith, open conversations, and no knives allowed,” she summed up.“I can do that,” Bruce thought aloud.





	Always Moving, Never Stopping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [newyorktopaloalto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/newyorktopaloalto/gifts).



“Not bad today.”

Tony took the cool cloth off his face. Natasha smiled at him upside-down from the doorway.

“Not bad? I saved thousands of people.”

Natasha sat down beside him. “Your close-combat skills could use some work.”

Tony huffed, and reapplied his cloth.

He groaned, tension seeping away, when Natasha’s manicured nails carded through his hair.

“So… you and Pepper?”

“Jealous?”

“I could get some other hot billionaire ass if I wanted.”

Tony chuckles, then makes a snap decision. “Pepper knows I’m not a one-woman kinda guy.”

A quiet minute later, soft lips touched the corner of his own.

-

At one point the existential dread coming off Banner was so strong Tony couldn’t ignore it.

“You know, SHIELD tugged my ponytails for a while there, too. I’m not gonna let them railroad a fellow scientist. Let me run some interference for you.”

“And what will you expect in return?”

Tony spun away from his computer and was confronted by a dark expression.

“Your standard non-disclosure agreement for Stark Industries intellectual property and any embarrassing things you might see me doing.”

Bruce blinked, flustered. “I’m… not looking for a job, Dr. Stark.”

“Sometimes, things we’re not looking for find us.”

-

After the missile, after Loki, there were thousands of things to do, and Tony just wanted to collapse in an ice bath and never get out. But he took the time to tuck a semi-conscious Banner into the best bed in the Tower—his own.

“Are you alright?”

Natasha appeared silently beside him, bruised and exhausted.

“I will be,” he said honestly, tugging her into his arms. “We could take an hour, maybe?”

She sighed almost silently, then nodded.

When Clint woke them a few hours later, the three of them were cuddled in a single pile under the blankets.

-

“So... how does this work?”

Bruce clutched his morning tea. He looked so cute wrapped in Tony’s bathrobe that Tony spilled a few drops of coffee. Natasha chided him and handed him a napkin. Bruce watched, entranced, like they were a nature documentary.

“How does dating anyone work? Test to destruction.”

Natasha laughed while Bruce looked alarmed.

“Good faith, open conversations, and no knives allowed,” she summed up the rules she and Tony had already established.

“I can do that,” Bruce thought aloud.

Exchanging a mischievous look, Tony and Natasha snuck up and kissed his cheeks.

“You’ll fit right in.”

-

“She meant well.”

“She forced me to… Hulk out!”

Bruce paced the lab, back and forth. Tony could barely keep his eyes open, but sat there miserably anyway.

“I can’t believe you wanted to run away,” he said without meaning to.

He looked up to Bruce’s glare. “I didn’t sign up for this like you.”

“You chose to get on that plane. Teammates don’t turn their backs on each other.”

“How would you know?” Bruce muttered darkly.

Something hot and hurt turned in Tony’s gut, but he just shook his head. “I’m going to bed.”

He slept alone that night.

-

When Tony woke up, Natasha was waiting by his hospital bed with unwashed hair and six completed crosswords.

"You nearly died," she breathed.

"What, this?" Tony asked. "Steve wouldn't kill me. This was a... minor disagreement."

"You had a heart attack."

"...Oh."

"I betrayed you, just like I betrayed Bruce, and you nearly died." 

Natasha’s voice broke. Tony tugged her down beside him on the bed.

“Nat, I know—you’re doing what you think is right. That’s all any of us can do. I love you, and I forgive you.”

"I love you. And I won't let you down again."

-

Tony and Natasha blinked back to existence, side by side, and the battle continued.

Two hours and one dead Titan later, Bruce found them lying on the ground in exhaustion. For the first time in two years (seven years), their lover fell into their arms.

“I’m so sorry. Please take me back.”

“I’ll take you back if you take me back,” Natasha laughed.

“Yes, I forgive you,” Bruce sobbed. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“We’ve missed you too,” Tony cried. “Now please, tell us what the _hell_ just happened?”

Bruce began to explain as they all, finally, left the battlefield.


End file.
